2024 Readings

Books Books Books. What is better than a great book? At day’s end, I sit socks-off a velvet chair and am ferried by Jack London to the seal-hunting grounds of Japan. What will Wolf Larsen do next? On another evening I’m at the roulette wheel in a Jamaican casino with a brooding James Bond or at the forge of Conor Larkin in Belfast (Trinity).

The tears came two full days after completing Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan. I only wish her books were longer. Haruki Murakami (Kafka on the Shore) kinda lost me this year with all his loose ends. Blood Meridian, by Cormac McCarthy washed over me like a slow volcano. Anything written by Amor Towles is worth picking up, even the essays in A Table For Two. Lastly, after 2 previous failed attempts, I enjoyed Dune by Frank Herbert immensely.

Recommending books is almost unhelpful, as we each have such different taste. But FOR ME, standout hits from the year include:

• The Sea Wolf by Jack London

• Goldfinger by Ian Fleming

• Dune by Frank Herbert (hardback!)

• Foster by Claire Keegan